Committees formed to address man-animal conflict at Aralam Farm, HC told

The State government on Monday informed the Kerala High Court that State, district and local level committees have been formed to address the human-animal conflicts at Aralam Farm. The submission was made before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Nitin Jamdar and Justice S. Manu when a petition filed by Baiju Paul Mathews, seeking a directive to take steps to tackle the frequent wild animal attack in Aralam farm came up for hearing.

When the government pleader submitted that the Chief Secretary had held a meeting recently to address the issue, the court said that proper mechanisms need to be put in place for coordinated action. The government pleader further submitted that a State-level committee with the Chief Minister as chairperson and Chief Secretary as convener and Ministers for Forests, Local Self-government Institutions, and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development as members had been constituted. The official-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary and consisting of officials from the Home, Forest, Revenue, Local Self-government Institutions, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe, and Agriculture departments had also been constituted.

Demands

The court asked the government pleader to file a memo stating the mechanism set up for coordinated efforts of all the departments. The petitioner sought a directive to immediately restore and maintain electric fencing in all critical blocks and deployment of 24×7 watchers or rapid-response squads until a permanent boundary wall is built. The petition also sought timely repairs and maintenance of any half-built or damaged portions of the boundary wall of the farm.